


Burn Out

by snufflyphoenix



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Borderlands Mini Bang, Family, Fluff, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 12:08:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20582249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snufflyphoenix/pseuds/snufflyphoenix
Summary: As Mordecai and Brick prepare to ship out to Athenas as the Crimson Raiders' B Team with Not So Tiny Tina, Lilith worries about their safety and starts to wonder how she's going to manage without them now she's gotten so used to them always being with her again. She contemplates their relationship; how it's changed since when they first met and how they're going to manage going forwards with the world turned upside down again.





	Burn Out

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written as part of the Borderlands Mini Bang and I've had so much fun writing this, and seeing the art from [CrystalCaravanner](https://crystalcaravanner.tumblr.com/) and [Triton](https://princess-triton.tumblr.com/) has been so wonderful. Hope you enjoy!

She throws back another drink, staring into the flames she’s making dance across the tips of her fingers. She doesn’t have to say a word to Moxxi for her to get her a refill; she just silently pours her another glass. 

  
  
Lilith likes it here in the bar. It’s difficult to focus on her thoughts when they’re clouded by whiskey and the thumping techno playing from the jukebox. Right now it’s just what she needs, a bit of blissful blurriness when everything is just so… so much. The eridium used to help, giving her a rush that made her feel so powerful the things that often plagued her no longer felt important. But that rush was now dulled, the things that plagued her too numerous and eridium too precious a resource to waste on numbing her pain. 

  
  
So she takes a note out of Mordecai’s old book and she drinks. 

“Penny for your thoughts, sugar?”

Lilith raises her head to see Moxxi looking at her, her head slightly tilted. She laughs weakly. “Not sure they’re worth a penny right now.”

Moxxi smiles briefly, shaking her head. She goes back to cleaning glasses, lining them up behind the bar as Lilith goes back to her drink. A few minutes later, she lines up the final glass and says lightly, “Tina dropped in this afternoon while Brick and Mordecai were packing up. She’s looking forward to their trip.”

  
  
“Mm.” Lilith looks down.

“Apparently they’re going to find all sorts of, ahem, ‘dope shit’ on… oh, where was it again?”

“Eden-6.” 

  
  
“Right, of course.” Moxxi nods, looking over at Lilith once more. “I’ve not been myself, much too humid for me. I grew up in the desert, warm sticky heat doesn’t agree with me. Well, not when it comes to the weather at least--”

Lilith sets her glass down forcefully, looking up. “What are you getting at, Moxxi?” 

The bartender holds her hands up defensively, the dishrag in her hand almost an ironic flag of surrender. She raises an eyebrow at Lilith. 

  
  
She deflates, sighs and slumps in her stool. “Just… what do you want? I’m not in the mood.”

  
Moxxi pauses for a second then sets the cloth down, leaning slightly on the bar. Her voice soft as she speaks. “I just get the feeling that you’re not finding letting them go very easy.”

Lilith makes a non-committal sound. 

“We’ve had a lot of people leave us over the last few years.” Moxxi continues. “… It never gets any easier.”

“Brick promised Tina he’d take her exploring. Mordecai’s our best scout. It makes sense for them to go,” Lilith says, the monotone nature of her voice suggesting she had been trying to convince herself of this as much as anyone else.

“Of course.” 

Lilith takes a measured sip, looking down. “And they’ll Echo.”

“Certainly.” 

“It’s just…” 

“They’re going to be very far away.”

“Exactly.” Lilith’s voice is almost a whisper. 

Moxxi lays a hand on her shoulder, running it back and forward slowly and comfortingly as she feels it begin to shake. She tilts Lilith’s chin up, carefully wiping away a stray tear and gives her shoulder a squeeze. “It’s not forever. They will come back,” she says, “you know that they will.”

“I _don't_ know that they will.” Lilith’s voice trembles. “Every time we see someone leave, we have to prepare for the fact this might be the last time we see them; Helena, Roland, Scooter, countless others… They all should have come back. But they didn’t, and now Mordy, Brick and Tina are going and-”

“They’re going to be fine.” Moxxi says firmly. "For the one time they didn’t come back, they did every other time."

Lilith shakes her head. "It only takes one time and then they're gone." 

“They’re sensible. Well,” she backtracks a little at the look Lilith gives her, “they’re not irresponsible. Not completely; not when they have Tina around. And they know you’ll be waiting for them.”

Lilith can’t stop the tears running down her face and Moxxi makes a soft sympathetic noise as she moves from behind the bar to next to her, wrapping an arm around her and holding her close as she sobs silently into the crook of her neck. She shushes her gently, petting her hair. “Ssh, sweetheart, it’s okay. It’ll be okay.” 

Lilith just shakes her head, drawing a heaving breath. 

“It will. Trust me.”

She holds her for a while longer before giving her a gentle squeeze and kissing her forehead again. “Come on, sugar, let’s get you home. You need your boys.”

Artist is [Triton](https://princess-triton.tumblr.com/)  
  
  


* * *

The final plans had been made. The route had been decided and strategy agreed upon; the Vault Hunters would make their way to the bunker through Thousand Cuts, they would gain access using the voice modifier they’d taken off the body double in Opportunity, Roland would meet them inside the bunker, disable any security and disable Jack’s power source. Job done. 

It all sounded so simple on paper but every member of the Crimson Raiders knew how high the stakes were surrounding this mission. They got one shot at this and that would be it. They couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. Roland stretches his back out before looking back at the map table in front of him, scrutinising it, terrified he was missing something glaringly obvious that could cost them the entire operation. 

“I still think I should go with you.”

Roland sighs and looks over at Lilith as she rifles through a file. “And my answer hasn’t changed.”

She folds her arms. “Because you’re being stubborn.” 

“Because I’m being_ sensible_,” he frowns. “We have no idea what Jack has in there, the last thing we need is him getting his hands on a siren just because you want to set him on fire.”

“He won’t get his hands on me, Ro, I’m too good for that,” she gives him a small smirk and leans back against a desk. “Besides, it never hurts to have a siren on your side. Two in our case. Which, yeah, now I think about it - how come you have no problem with Maya going but when _I_ want to go to help protect you all suddenly there’s a problem?” 

“You’re more powerful than Maya, you’ve been practising for longer and you use Eridium to enhance your abilities - that makes you more dangerous against Jack and more valuable to him.” Roland straightens up, looking down at the map briefly before looking over at her again. “We can’t afford to lose you.” 

“But we can afford to lose you?” Lilith looks at him incredulously. “You’re serious?”

“I’m not a siren, Lil, the worst that can happen is I get killed--”

“Don’t--”

“And that’s a risk I’m willing to take!” Roland is now starting to sound frustrated. “We have a chain of command; if I go down the Crimson Raiders don’t just cease operating. Our work is dangerous, we risk our lives every day for the people of Pandora, but they need us and I’m not going to step back when we’re so close.”

Lilith sets the file down, standing up straight again herself. “I’m also willing to take the risk. You said it yourself - I’m dangerous. He’d be an idiot to try anything and we both know that Jack likes to think he’s smart. You need me, Roland, I can help.” 

“No.” Roland says sharply. “Lilith, the risk is too high. You’re not coming. End of story.” 

Uncomfortable tense silence hangs around them as they both stand steadfast, neither one willing to budge. Years of words said and unsaid surround them but neither of them can bring themselves to say them. 

The years hadn’t been unkind to them but to say they had been easy would be grossly inaccurate. Trying to maintain any kind of healthy stable relationship on a war torn planet would be bad enough but coupled with Lilith’s tendency to deflect as soon as things get too emotionally vulnerable and Roland’s dedication to his role as commander of the Crimson Raiders things had been challenging. Long periods of separation caused by Lilith’s outpost in the Frostburn Canyon meant things often felt somewhat stilted when they were finally reunited, especially when those meetings had often been brief prior to the new Vault Hunters arrival to Pandora.

Quick awkward conversations in a frozen wasteland and quick fucks in her rickety cot weren’t a good substitute for properly spending time together, and they both knew this. Sure, it was better than nothing but it didn’t compare to proper conversation. Even now when they were both together on Sanctuary and they had the time they’d previously lacked, the words seemed so hard to find. They choked on the tender words they wished they could tell each other and fumbled in moments of closeness, so unused to spending time together these days. 

Roland opens his mouth briefly but then closes it again, the moment passed. He turns to go, almost out the door to head downstairs before Lilith speaks again. 

“You can’t stop me from going, you know,” she says defiantly, her arms wrapped around herself. 

Roland stops in his tracks and turns to look at her with a somewhat dejected sigh. “I know. I just hoped that you might respect my wishes and listen, just this once. Either as your commander or as-...” he hesitates and shakes his head, looking down briefly before meeting her eyes again. “I don’t know. Please. Just stay here.” 

“As what, Roland?” Lilith’s voice is softer now as she looks at him, the arms that had once been so defensively wrapped around her more relaxed now. 

“I..” He stammers briefly, colour rising in his cheeks. “Forget it, Lil, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make things weird.” 

She shakes her head quickly. “You didn’t, nothing’s weird but what were you going to say?” 

Roland sighs. “Just… as someone who means something to you, I’m asking you not to put yourself in harms way. I know I’m not your boyfriend anymore and we’ve got all this.. history, and like you said I can’t stop you from going but please, Lilith. Don’t be reckless.” 

Lilith pauses for a moment before walking towards him, hesitating once more before wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in the crook of his neck. She’s sure she doesn’t breathe for the few seconds it takes before he returns her embrace, holding her close as he draws a shaky breath. She wants to cry at how right this feels and how much she had missed being in his arms. 

“I’m not trying to be reckless,” she mumbles against him, “I swear. It’s just… you’ve already been taken from us. Twice. The Crimson Raiders might go on without you but I don’t know how I would.” She looks up at him and gives him a small melancholy smile, shrugging a shoulder. “You’re too important for that, Ro.” 

He presses a light kiss to the top of her head and she blushes, ducking her head to hide her face again but tightens her arms to squeeze him quickly. “You’d be okay. I’m going to go, we’re going to trust Angel’s information was good, we’re going to get the Vault Key and we’re going to come home. We can’t afford ‘what ifs’, you know that.” 

Lilith nods slowly, her brow furrowed. “I know.” 

“And you need to hold down Sanctuary while I’m gone.” Roland runs a hand up and down along her back, his eyes closed. 

“Mm,” she hums quietly.

“So please, Lily.” 

She sighs softly before tilting her head up to look at him. He opens his eyes to meet hers and smiles softly as she nods. “Thank you.” 

She leans up on her toes and presses her lips to his. He freezes for a second, clearly caught off guard before he kisses her back, smiling against her lips as she moves to drape her arms around his neck. She relaxes against him when he moves his hands to her lower back and presses her body to his, cupping the back of his head as she slips her tongue into his mouth. 

Tenderness turns into desperation and the things they never said no longer seem to matter so much as she hooks her legs around his waist and he backs her against the wall, completely lost in each other. There’s a feeling of finality to everything and neither of them are keen to let this moment pass them by after all the time they have lost. And when Lilith is later lying on Roland’s in his bunk, her hands cushioning her chin from his chest, it’s the first time in a long time that either of them have felt truly peaceful. 

Roland winds a lock of her hair around his finger and she leans up to kiss him, both smiling the kind of dopey smile that had they company they would be teased mercilessly for. She lingers against his lips, kissing him again and again until he pulls away, laughing fondly at her. She grins bashfully and briefly ducks her head before meeting his eyes again, a little more serious.

“I love you, Roland.” She smiles slightly, lightly tracing a finger across his chest. “I always have. I hope you know that.”

He cups her face in his hand and pulls her into a deep kiss. Her eyes flutter shut as she leans into it, unable to stop herself from smiling a smile that only gets wider when he presses a light kiss to her nose. “I love you too, Lily. Always will.”

She kisses him again before settling against him, wrapping herself around him. “Please be careful tomorrow. Just come back to me.”

He touches his lips to the top of her head with a soft smile, holding her close. “Like I said. Always will.”

  
Artist is [Triton](https://princess-triton.tumblr.com)  
  
  


* * *

“We should plan something for when you get back.” 

  
  
“Yeah?” Mordecai looks over from where he stands by a chest folding up a scarf, a somewhat surprised look on his face. “What kind of something?”

She shrugs, pulling the blanket around her tighter as she sits up in bed. “I don’t know. But something. Something special.”

“You wanna go off ship? We could go back to Wam Bam Island, see some sun?”

Brick grins as he climbs into bed behind her, pulling her close. “Don’t have to go off ship to do something special. All we need is a locked door and some flat surfaces.” 

“Yeah cos no one ever comes knocking on our door.” Mordecai scoffs but he can’t help himself from smiling as he watches Brick kiss Lilith’s neck and how she melts into him with a soft smile of her own. 

“So we tell them to fuck off.” He murmurs into Lilith’s neck as she leans her head back against his chest. “They can wait.” 

Lilith sighs and closes her eyes. “Mordy’s right, we should go off ship. Can hardly yell at Tina to fuck off, and I don’t just want a rushed twenty minutes with you both before we have to get back to our jobs - I want to actually spend time with you.” 

Mordecai closes the chest and sits down next to them, humming fondly as Lilith moves to lie her head in his lap and Brick cuddles up behind him. He runs his fingers through her hair as he leans his head against Brick’s, his brow furrowed slightly. They trade kisses for a few minutes, just relaxing in each others company after a tiring day, before Mordecai speaks again quietly. 

“You’re okay, right, Lily?” 

“Hm?” She lifts her head to look at him.

“You’re okay?” he asks, leaning back against Brick again. 

She goes to nod her head before pausing and sighing, rolling onto her back to stare up at the ceiling as she considers her words. “It’s just,” she huffs, running a hand over her face, “I dunno, it’s just… it’s gonna be weird not having you around.”

Brick nods. “It’s gonna be weird not having _you_ around. I mean… I love you Mordy, but--”

“We’re better all together.” Mordecai finishes for him, pressing a kiss to his jaw.

He hums, running his hand up and down Liliths leg. “Exactly.”

She smiles briefly, leaning her head back to tug on Mordecai’s beard and pulls him down into a kiss. She holds him there, pressing soft little kisses to his lips before he pulls back with a fond if slightly sad look on his face. “What?” she asks.

“It’d be easier to enjoy you kissing me if I didn’t know it was a distraction from whatever you’re not telling us,” he says wryly.

She rolls her eyes and hides her face briefly in his leg, only for Brick to poke her cheek. She makes a face at him.

“Lily, come on. What’s going on?” 

“I told you!” she protests, looking between the two of them. “It’s just going to be weird with you gone. You’re always here, I’ve gotten used to you both being around and now you’re going away and it’s going to be weird, and I’m going to miss you both like crazy and I’m going to have to do this all on my own, that’s it!” 

“Lil…” Mordecai frowns a little. “You’re not gonna be on your own; you got Ellie, Moxxi, Tannis, Hammerlock, even Vaughn….”

“But they’re not you.” 

  
  
“And we ain’t vanishing on you, we’re just going to Eden-6.” Brick adds, glancing at Mordecai. “And we can Echo and stuff, we ain’t disappearing.”

“But you’re not gonna be _here_.” Lilith sighs, covering her face with her hands. “God, I sound like a child. I just… I don’t want to lose either of you. I can’t. Not after Roland, I just can’t.” 

Brick and Mordecai share another look before Brick taps them both briefly and shifts so he's lying down. He pats his chest and they move to lie with their heads on him, arms draped so they can hold hands over him. He wraps his arms around each of them, holding them close as he rubs slow circles into Lilith's back. 

None of them had coped well after Roland's death. When the chaos of trying to stop Jack had died down and they were left to pick up the pieces, Roland's absence was a gaping hole in both the Crimson Raiders and their lives. Of the four of them, Roland had always been the constant - the steadfast solid one they could all rely on. When Brick had been in Thousand Cuts, Lilith in Frostburn Canyon and Mordecai in the Tundra Express they had all known Roland would be in Sanctuary, working to protect everyone. No matter how long they were away Roland would always be there. And without Roland they hadn't known how to keep themselves together.

They had struggled, they had fought, they had yelled unforgivable things and at the end of the day all ended up crying on each others shoulders. After all, despite them missing their last partner they were still the only people who knew what they had been through and the love they shared that had developed since they got off that bus all those years ago was still strong.

The fights that had preceded Brick leaving for a second time had left them all wary, scared of what the next thing might be that would tear them apart and potentially for good this time. Lilith knew how much Mordecai had struggled trying to balance spending his time between the two of them while they weren’t speaking to each other and he was going to have his hands full with Brick and Tina while on Eden-6. Without as much time to talk, without time spent together in person, her family might slip away from her and she was terrified. 

Not to mention…

“What if it’s too dangerous and one of you gets hurt? You’re not taking a medic with you so what happens then?” she asks with her voice muffled, her face buried in Bricks chest. 

Brick kisses the top of her head. “Then we transport back to Sanctuary for medical attention.”

“What if it’s too late?”

“We have some medical skills, Lil, come on.” Mordecai squeezes her hand. “This long in our field and you don’t trust us to be able to patch ourselves up? It’ll be fine.” 

“But if it’s--” 

  
  
“Lil,” he says seriously, looking her in the eye. “We’re going to be okay. I know we can’t predict everything, I know we’ve had shit hit the fan before when nothing was supposed to go wrong, I know we aren’t exactly in clear waters here but it’s just recon. We’re so far out of the line of fire we’re not even on the radar. We got each other. We got Tina and we got Talon. We’re gonna be fine.”

Lilith squeezes his hand, nodding her head slightly. She hesitates for a moment before talking again. “You know it’s not that I don’t trust you, right?”

  
  
“Of course.” he gives her a small smile. “It’s the rest of the universe we can’t trust. But you gotta believe we’re gonna be okay cos every day you spend worrying about if and when we’re coming back is a day that the Crimson Raiders needs it’s commander and a day that we need our Lily.” 

She nods again and leans across Brick to kiss him. “Just be careful, okay? Both of you.” 

“When have you known us to be anything other than careful?” Brick grinned as he watched them before pulling her close for a kiss of his own. She pulled a face at him and he laughed. “Right. You got it, Lil. We’ll be careful.”

  
Artist is [Triton](https://princess-triton.tumblr.com)

* * *

The fire in the makeshift pit had started to grow dim, the flames that a few hours previously had burned so bright smaller now as the night set in and the world around the four figures hunched by the fire was dark. The group had not been working together very long; just long enough that the initial distrust had worn off and they were now able to sit together in the silence without tension hanging in the air, waiting for which of them would turn on the others first. 

Mordecai sits with Bloodwing, scratching under her beak as she fusses, and feeds her the last of his rakk that he won’t finish. Brick fidgets with his gloves, picking off some stray viscera that had ended up stuck to them which he tosses to Bloodwing. She squawks happily, catching it in her beak before hopping off Mordecai’s shoulder, curling herself up by the edge of the firepit to chew on it. 

“That should keep her quiet for a bit.” Mordecai comments and Brick hums in agreement. 

Lilith raises an eyebrow from across the pit. “That’ll be a change.” 

“She’s not that bad.” 

  
“She’s that bad.” Roland says wryly, catching Lilith’s eye. She smiles before ducking her head. He looks back to Mordecai. “There hasn’t been a morning in weeks where I haven’t heard her squawking at something completely harmless.”

“Hey, she’s just protective, leave her alone,” Mordecai sounds defensive as he gets up to pull his sleeping bag from the back of the Technical. “She’s just doing her job.”

“Could she do it a few decibels quieter?” Brick does the same, shaking some sand from it before setting it down. “Some of us need our beauty sleep.”

  
  
“Speak for yourself.” Mordecai snorted. 

“Okay, Mr ‘I Keep My Entire Face Covered At All Times So No One Can See Whether I Actually Slept Last Night Or Not’.” Brick rolls his eyes and pushes him playfully, sending Mordecai tumbling into Roland’s lap.

“Woah, there.” Roland chuckles, helping Mordecai back to his feet as he stands himself. “You alright?”

Mordecai doesn’t answer, just turns to glare at Brick. “Asshole. I could have fallen in the fire.”

  
  
Brick shrugged, settling down on his bag. “But you didn’t.” 

“But I could have and--” 

“Guys!” Lilith says exasperatedly, getting up to retrieve her roll. “It’s late, just… go to bed.”

Mordecai shot one last look at Brick before settling down in his bag next to him, Bloodwing hopping up to curl up in the crook behind his knees. Roland set his turret down to keep watch before setting up his own bag, looking up when Lilith gave a dismayed noise. 

“You okay?” 

Lilith held out her sleeping bag, the end of which had been chewed through by… something. It was difficult to tell what exactly had done it but it was clear that it was completely unusable as a sleeping bag. She threw it down on the ground and sat down heavily, sighing. “I hate this fucking planet.”

“No, you don’t.” Roland reminds her, picking up the bag to have a look at it, pulling a face. “...don’t think we can save this though.”

Lilith scoffs. “You think?”

Roland raises an eyebrow at her and she sighs, apologising. “Sorry. I’m tired.”

“We’re all tired.” Mordecai supplies, squinting at the bag. “Don’t suppose some tape would fix it?”

“Don’t think so.” Roland frowns, setting it down again. “You can share with me, Lil.”

“Hm?” She blinks at him as he heads over to his own sleeping bag before pausing. 

“You don’t have to. Sorry. Um. What I mean is,” he takes his hat off and rubs the back of his head, looking suddenly a little unsure of himself, “you <i>can</i> share with me. If you like. It’ll be a bit tight but I’m sure we can make do. Again, only if you want.” 

She smiles almost shyly and nods. “That would be great. … thanks, Ro.” 

“Anytime.” He smiles back.

They settle into Roland’s sleeping bag, Lilith’s back against his front as the four of them fall quiet again, the only sound the crackles of the dying embers and the wails of rakks in the distance. Pandora was never truly quiet but the moments of relative stillness were nonetheless appreciated by all of them. After a day of nothing but screams and gunshot, some peace was desperately needed. 

This only lasts a short while however before Mordecai hisses into the darkness. “It’s fucking freezing.”

“Is it?” Roland mumbles, raising his head to peer blearily at Mordecai.

“_Yes_,” he pulls his sleeping bag tighter around him. “Fucking deserts.” 

“Quit whining, get in here.” Brick unzips the edge of his sleeping bag, holding it open to Mordecai. 

Mordecai blinks at him. “What?”

Brick gestures to him to come closer. “You’re cold, or you’re jealous you’re not getting cuddled, or both and I want to sleep so shut the fuck up and get in here.” 

“I’m not jealous.” Mordecai scoffs, as derisively as he can while shivering. “It’s just fucking cold.”

“Then get in here before your balls drop off, stop being a dumbass.” 

Mordecai hesitates for a moment before climbing in with Brick, grumbling about not being able to breathe as Brick wraps an arm around him before relenting and cuddling back up to him. 

“You gonna go to sleep now?” 

Mordecai elbows him. “I will if you’ll stop talking.”

“Right,” Brick rolls his eyes, tightening his arm around him, “cos I’m the one who was just whining so much I had to change where I was sleeping.”

“I was cold, not all of us are built for this type of weather, okay?” 

Roland raised his head again. “Mordecai?”

“Yeah?”

“Go the fuck to sleep.” 

* * *

  
“Echo when you arrive, okay?” Lilith tells Tina, hugging her tight. “I don’t want to hear my B-Team has got lost somewhere in the galaxy and we need to stage a rescue mission.”

“You worry too much, Lilyflower,” Tina grins, hugging her back before bouncing over to the door of the transport. “We can’t get lost - Moxxi programmed the route! We’ll be on Eden-6 in no time, giving you reports full of sweeeeet info from your one and only ground team, we’ll kick those Calypso’s in the butt and it’ll all be thanks to us, you’ll see!”

Lilith rolls her eyes fondly, smiling. “Sure, sure. In the meantime - Echo when you get there, kid, or I’m telling Brick to ground you.” 

Tina sighs dramatically, leaning against the hatch. “Fiiiiiiiine. I’ll Echo.” She pauses for a second before rushing back over and giving Lilith one last hug. “Don’t forget about us while we’re gone, okay?” 

“I couldn’t if I tried.” Lilith squeezes her tight, kissing her forehead. She ruffles Tina’s hair as she pulls away and laughs at the disgruntled look on her face. “Stay safe.” 

“I will!” Tina says, running her hand through her hair as she heads back to the shuttle. “Love ya!”

Lilith smiles and gives her a quick wave. “Love you too, Tina.” She smiles wryly at Mordecai who looks as if he’s already nursing a stress headache as Tina heads inside the shuttle. “Good luck.”

“I’m going to need it.” He chuckles, fidgeting with his beard. “Tina with her energy and Brick with his in a small metal box for hours? It’s almost a shame I stopped drinking.” 

She laughs for a moment before pulling him into a tight hug, sighing quietly as he wraps his arms around her. “Do remember to Echo, yeah? I don’t expect Tina to remember, she’s gonna be over excited from being off ship and it’ll slip her mind but if you could--” 

“I’ll keep you updated, Lil, don’t worry.” He reassures her, kissing her temple. “We’ll set up comms as soon as we can and I’ll let you know we arrived in one piece.” 

Lilith smiles and turns her head to kiss him properly. “Thank you.” 

He returns the kiss and smiles softly. “Of course.” He hesitates for a moment. “Try not to get too sad, yeah? I know how that sounds but…” 

She nods slightly, taking a steadying breath. “Yeah, I know. It’s not forever and you’ll be back.”

“Exactly,” he kisses her again before laughing weakly. “You know, sometimes obscuring my face is useful - can’t have both of us crying now.”

“I’m not crying.” Lilith protests, sniffling as her eyes welled in spite of herself. “And wearing a mask and goggles doesn’t mean you aren’t crying.” 

“You can’t prove anything.” He grins before sighing quietly and giving her a squeeze. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” 

Lilith turns to see Brick approaching with the last bag and holds out an arm to him. “Come here, and stop ruining my moment with Mordy.” She laughs weakly as she wipes her eyes,leaning up to give him a kiss.

“What?” Brick shrugs, kissing her back with a grin. “Thought he was talking to me. And I do love him.”

“But it was my turn to say I love him,” she teases as she leans into Mordecai, who takes her chin in his hand to kiss her again.

He grinned against her lips. “You guys don’t have to fight over me, you know.” 

“Mm but you both get each other for the next few months, let me be fussy,” she kisses him again before leaning up to kiss Brick once more. “I love you both. And you have to look after each other while I’m not with you.”

“We will, don’t worry.” Brick reassures her, squeezing her to his side. “Nothing’s gonna happen to him on my watch - to either of them.”

Lilith smiles fondly and hugs them both close. They said their proper goodbyes last night, there’s no need to say them all again now and drag it out. The next few months would be painful but they would get through and they would be okay. She might have to repeat that to herself several times a day but they would be fine, she just had to trust them. Out of the ashes, a phoenix is born; they had picked up the pieces when things had fallen apart and they had rebuilt, and would be stronger for it. 

And while she cried as she waved goodbye to the shuttle as it departed, and continued to cry as she walked back to their room, she held onto the determination that they would see each other again. She had to trust that they would.

Artist is [CrystalCaravanner](https://crystalcaravanner.tumblr.com/)

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> I have so many more Borderlands ideas involving these guys and some of the BL2 and BL3 lot so there's plenty more coming soon! Thank you again for reading, and please feel free to follow my [tumblr](https://betterthanforever.tumblr.com/)!


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